Margaret Qualley is letting the dogs out—literally.
The Dog Stars actress made quite the bold fashion choice at the film’s London premiere Aug. 20 by wearing the controversial Chanel barefoot sandals.
The fantastical footwear featured only the heel of a shoe—with the Chanel logo—and a strap that wrapped around Qualley’s foot, only leaving her toes and the balls of her feet exposed. The 31-year-old paired the unconventional accessory with a fringy, v-neck black dress, also from Chanel.
The shoes themselves first landed with a questioning bang in April, when Chanel’s creative director Matthieu Blazy debuted the pieces as part of the resort 2027 collection. They were never made available on the Chanel website, likely meaning that only those anointed by the label have access to the shoes.
Still, despite their designer origins, fans were not feeling toe-tally confident about Qualley’s footwear choice.
“I can't believe someone actually wore these Chanel shoes!” one person wrote on Instagram, with another wondering, “...but what if she has to use a public restroom?!”
And, as one fan joked, “Inflation hit fashion it’s too expensive to make a full shoe.”
But Qualley is no stranger to putting her feet on display, as they were featured prominently during an un-foot-gettable moment in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. In the scene, Qualley’s character Pussycat props up her dirty feet after she’s picked up by stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).
And while the scene went off boot-ifully, the Emmy nominee was initially nervous about showing off her feet after years as a ballerina.
“I genuinely was like, ‘Quentin, this is a bad idea. I don’t have good feet,’” she told IndieWire in 2019. “I was in pointe shoes for far too long to have toes that can be shown to the world.”
“We had a big debate about it, me, Quentin and Brad, with them trying to be like, ‘You’re fine,’ and me being like, ‘No, guys, really, look, these are not good,'” Qualley recalled. “‘I know that I undermine myself pretty regularly, but I’m genuinely telling you these are not good feet, look at these. I know I’m self-deprecating, but I’m not being in this particular instance.'”
Eventually, she “did the foot thing” and found that left her with newfound respect for her feet.
“I used to actually be pretty mortified with my feet,” she said. “Maybe I can finally just give up that now.”
For a deep dive into more shoes that made the outfit, keep reading.
Lily James wearing iridescent, pompon-adorned heels.
Darby Stanchfield wearing Marskinryyppy by Nicole Brundage.